Bulk SMS Mobile Marketing Blog | Text Marketer » Virtual Mobile Numberhttps://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog
SMS GatewayTue, 19 Feb 2019 09:46:43 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1Short code or long code – what’s better for me?https://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2017/08/short-code-sms-2/short-code-or-long-code-%e2%80%93-what%e2%80%99s-better-for-me/
https://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2017/08/short-code-sms-2/short-code-or-long-code-%e2%80%93-what%e2%80%99s-better-for-me/#commentsTue, 08 Aug 2017 08:30:25 +0000james.scotthttp://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/?p=13812Continue reading →]]>Short code or long code, both are amazing add-ons to SMS marketing and are vital if you want your customers to be able to communicate with you via SMS. There are benefits to both, and both can be used to allow customers to enter competitions, enquire about your services or products, or communicate with your business.

Some businesses use both a short code and a long code, some just need a short code and vice-versa. We know you may not need both, but we also know that you might not know if you need either of them, and without knowing what a short code and long code are, how will you know if your business needs them?

Below we will explain what a short code and long code are, why you may need them, and how much they cost.

What is a short code?
A short code is short number that allows people to text you. They are used in conjunction with a keyword, and are most commonly used for competitions, for example, ‘Text WIN to 88802 for a chance to win a car’ Our short code number is 88802 and in this example the keyword is WIN.

So when businesses are looking to purchase a short code, they tend to mean the keyword that goes along with it. The short code is something that SMS providers own, 88802 is ours, and the keyword is something that you, our customers can purchase to be able to use our short code.

How much does a short code cost?
Our short code is free for you to use but we do charge for specific keywords, however, all accounts come with a free keyword. There are two options for purchasing a keyword, you have a choice between a Standard Keyword and a Value Keyword.

Value Keyword – Any word you choose with a number in front, for example, “2FOOD”, “4HOLIDAY”, “6SHOES” for £5 +VAT a month.

We do not tie you into any long contracts and you can cancel your keyword at any time.

What is a long code?
A long code, or virtual mobile number, is an 11 digit mobile number. It is used to allow customers to reply to SMS messages businesses send them, meaning two way conversations. An example message would be, “Your appointment has been scheduled for 11.00am on Tuesday 5th September 2017 at Clean Dentists. To change or cancel your appointment, simply reply to this message”. By using a long code, it will appear in the recipients’ phone as a normal text message from a normal mobile number.

Why do I need a long code?
Some business just want to send marketing messages to their customers with big offers and can set the sender ID as their company name, but some require the customer to reply.

If you set your sender ID to your company name, then the networks don’t know where to route the replies to, as it is just seen as text.

If you would like to give your customers the option of replying to your SMS message you will need to send the message using a long code, or as we have called it, a txtUs number. Using our txtUs number allows you two-way conversation, just like sending a text from your mobile phone.

How much does a long code cost?
All accounts come free with a long code, which allows replies to an email address, but if you want to be able to see those messages in your Message Box account you will have to purchase a dedicated virtual mobile number, pricing at £10 a month with no minimum contract.

Need more information?
Both have their benefits and both can really help boost your SMS campaigns, allowing customers to interact with you and feel like your business is less like a business and more human.

1. Texts to the number (replies) can only be routed back to you if you have sent the person a text from your online account. All texts to a txtUs number would be routed to you, whether you had sent them a message or not.

2. You will receive an email (if enabled) for each message recieved. You will be able to reply by email (which goes back as an SMS) but the emails will not track and display the entire conversation in the emails, as it does with txtUs.

3. There is no API availability with the free reply number.

If you all you need though are replies to your campaigns, the free reply number will be fine for you.

How to use your Free Text Reply Number
You simply select your free reply number from the send screen as the Sender ID.

Your reply number will then be shown on recipients’ phones and they can reply in the normal way – the reply will be routed to your email address.

The email part of the system
Replies will be routed to the email address in your system (you can change this by going to Message Control, highlighting your free reply number in Inboxes and then clicking Configure in the top menu).

To reply to a person that has replied to your text campaign. Hit reply to the email and type in some text. All you have to do is remember to add ## at the end of the text you want to send back (this tells our system not to send any text after the ##, i.e. the rest of the body of the email). Now send the email.

You’ll see that the text you put on the email now goes back as a text message.

Your system is now configured for replies.

FAQ’s

What does it cost to use the system?
There is no charge for using the number. You are also not charged for incoming texts. If you do reply to the email and send a text back to somebody then of course it is the usual charge for sending a message.

Why can’t people text the number directly and I receive their message?
The free text reply system works by sharing a number across multiple accounts. This is how we can make it free. So, when a text comes in on a free number we have to assign it to a receiver. This can only be done where we can see a message has been sent to that number and a match is confirmed.
Should you want to have full 2-way control, you should buy a txtUs virtual mobile number which will be unique to your account.